Regular polygons
Categories: gcse geometry
A regular polygon is a polygon for which every side is equal and every angle is equal. In this section we will look at some well known regular polygons with 3 to 12 sides. Here is a video:
Interior and exterior angles of regular polyons
This section gives the formulas for the interior and exterior angles of a polygon.
For a regular polygon, we know that all the interior angles are equal, and also that all the exterior angles are equal. We can use this to show that. for a regular polygon of n sides:
$$ exterior = \frac{360°}{n} $$
$$ interior = 180° - \frac{360°}{n} $$
3 sides - equilateral triangle
A three sided shape, of course, is called a triangle. A regular triangle is called an equilateral triangle, and looks like this:
Interior angle of a equilateral triangle is 60.0°
Exterior angle of a equilateral triangle is 120.0°
4 sides - square
A four sided shape is called a quadrilateral. A regular quadrilaterals are more commonly known as squares:
Interior angle of a square is 90.0°
Exterior angle of a square is 90.0°
5 sides - pentagon
A five sided shape is called a pentagon. A regular pentagon looks like this:
Interior angle of a regular pentagon is 108.0°
Exterior angle of a regular pentagon is 72.0°
6 sides - hexagon
A six sided shape is called a hexagon. A regular hexagon looks like this:
Interior angle of a regular hexagon is 120.0°
Exterior angle of a regular hexagon is 60.0°
7 sides - heptagon
A seven sided shape is called a heptagon. A regular heptagon looks like this:
Interior angle of a regular heptagon is 128.57°
Exterior angle of a regular heptagon is 51.43°
8 sides - octagon
A eight sided shape is called an octagon. A regular octagon looks like this:
Interior angle of a regular octagon is 135.0°
Exterior angle of a regular octagon is 45.0°
9 sides - nonagon
A nine sided shape is called a nonagon. A regular nonagon looks like this:
Interior angle of a regular nonagon is 140.0°
Exterior angle of a regular nonagon is 40.0°
10 sides - decagon
A ten sided shape is called a decagon. A regular decagon looks like this:
Interior angle of a regular decagon is 144.0°
Exterior angle of a regular decagon is 36.0°
11 sides - hendecagon
An eleven sided shape is called a hendecagon. A regular hendecagon looks like this:
Interior angle of a regular hendecagon is 147.27°
Exterior angle of a regular hendecagon is 32.73°
12 sides - dodecagon
A twelve sided shape is called a dodecagon. A regular dodecagon looks like this:
Interior angle of a regular dodecagon is 150.0°
Exterior angle of a regular dodecagon is 30.0°
Polygons with more sides
A polygon can have any number of sides, but most do not have well known special names.
Irregular polygons
An irregular polygon is a polygon where some of the sides and/or angles are different. Some irregular triangles and quadrilaterals have special names (isosceles triangle, rectangle, parallelogram, etc), but irregular shapes with more than four side usually don't.
See also
- Interior and exterior angles of a polygon
- Triangles
- Quadrilaterals
- Quadrilateral family tree
- Pentagons - polygons with 5 sides
- Hexagons - polygons with 6 sides
- Heptagons - polygons with 7 sides
- Octagons - polygons with 8 sides
- Nonagons - polygons with 9 sides
- Decagons - polygons with 10 sides
- Hendecagons - polygons with 11 sides
- Dodecagons - polygons with 12 sides
- n-gons - polygons with any number of sides
- Other types of polygon
- Star polygons
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